In an exploration of the exhilaration and terror of change, five women play the same character in stages of destruction and beauty in the Premiere of Scott T. Barsotti’s “Facing Angela”

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Kyra Lewandowski directs a cast of six actors in the secibd Scott T. Barsotti Premiere of the season, running June 29-July 28 at the Athenaeum TheatreÂ

The Athenaeum Theatre announces its upcoming world premiere of Facing Angela. First written ten years ago and re-imagined through a recent workshop with The Ruckus, Facing Angela is written by Season 4 featured playwright Scott T. Barsotti and is directed by Kyra Lewandowski. The cast of six is a motley crew of Ruckus regulars and Chicago theater favorites. Facing Angela will be performed at the Athenaeum Theatre (2936 N. Southport) June 29-July 28, 2013. Thursday- Saturday performances are at 8:00pm; Sunday performances are at 2pm. In observance of Independence Day, there will not be a show on July 4. There will be an industry performance on Mon. July 8 at 8pm. Â Preview tickets on June 27 and June 28 are $12. General tickets are $17. A complete performance schedule including dates, times, and ticket prices appears at the end of this release.

Â Director Kyra Lewandowski says, â€œWith Facing Angela, this team has really rolled up their sleeves and dug deep into some incredibly difficult conversations and explorations around the beginnings and endings of a relationship, especially when one’s sense of identity is on shifting ground. Standing at the end of something so huge that has shifted, what are the steps back to where you started? What pieces do you pick back up and put back on, and what do we ultimately choose to leave behind? This cast has been amazingly open with each other, which has allowed for some beautiful connections to be made already. I can’t wait to see where we go.â€ Ruckus Artistic Director Allison Shoemaker also had the following to say about working on Facing Angela, â€œWe’re so excited to be collaborating with Scott for the second time this season, and to be helping him re-invent a play he first developed a decade ago. Facing Angela has transformed nearly as much as its protagonist has, and being a part of that process has been thrilling for us all.â€

Angela has lost her face.Â Acquiring a new face alters more than skin and tissue, cutting into Angela’s relationship with her husband, Wes, and mutating her sense of self.Â As Angela re-constructs, re-invents, and re-defines her identity, Wes ceases to recognize the woman he loves, and doubts whether he really knows himself either.Â This re-imagining of Barsotti’s 2003 play, explored over the course of the season with the cast and company, will delve deep into how we recognize ourselves and those we go to bed with, and the collateral damage of transformative change.

Playwright Scott T. BarsottiÂ is a writer and performer originally from Pittsburgh, PA. Scottâ€™s plays include The Revenants, Kill Me, Jet Black Chevrolet, Brewed, McMeekin Finds Out, and adaptations of Robert Louis Stevensonâ€™s The Body Snatcher, H.P. Lovecraftâ€™s The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and Geoffrey Hayesâ€™ childrenâ€™s story The Mystery of the Pirate Ghost. Scottâ€™s work has been performed all around Chicago and nationwide, produced and/or developed by WildClaw Theatre, Curious Theatre Branch, Lifeline Theatre, The Route 66 Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Seven of Chicago, Tympanic Theatre, Collaboraction, Happy Medium Theatre, Pittsburgh Playwrights, and The Visceral Company among others. Scott is the featured playwright of The Ruckusâ€™ 2013 season. As a performer, Scott has appeared with WildClaw, Curious, The Mammals, Lifeline, WNEP Theater, Victory Gardens, Collaboraction, and Pavement Group to name a few, and has directed movement for WildClaw and Strawdog. Scott is a company member of WildClaw Theatre and Curious Theatre Branch, and a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists. For more information about Scott T. Barsotti, please visit his website at: Â

Â http://scottbarsotti.wordpress.com/.

Director Kyra Lewandowski is jazzed to be working with The Ruckus again after directing a workshop of Joe Mussoâ€™s Conk & Bone with them last fall. Kyra was last seen directing When Youâ€™re Dead by Chris Bowers for Tympanic Theatreâ€™s Deliver Us From Nowhere festival. Previous directing credits include Verse Chorus Verse by Randall Colburn (also with Tympanic Theatre), Sam Shepardâ€™s Curse of the Starving Class with New Leaf Theatre (where she was a company member 2005-2011), Burka Betty by Joe Janes (featured at Donnyâ€™s Skybox and Strawdogâ€™s Hugen Hall), Gone Flyinâ€™ by Tyler Monroe at Citylit Theatre, Polaroid Stories by Naomi Iizuka with Village Players Theatre, as well as shows with WNEP, Appetite Theatre, Rivendell Theatre, Teatro Vista, the side project, Griffin Theatre, Infusion Theatre, Hobo Junction Productions, and 20% Theatre. She is a BFA Theatre graduate of the University of Colorado.

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